


Potential What-If

by Mystery_Girl11



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: AU Carmen works for VILE, Cookie Booker - Freeform, Cookie Booker gets mentioned but shows up like once, Gen, Up for interpretation, What-If, black sheep, if you squint you can find red crackle in the background, it can be platonic or not, might extend this au if I have time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28870383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystery_Girl11/pseuds/Mystery_Girl11
Summary: After a successful caper, Black Sheep spots something that catches her eye. Let's just say she makes a few... questionable choices.
Kudos: 39





	Potential What-If

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [In Tandem](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17641505) by [DigitalSiamese](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalSiamese/pseuds/DigitalSiamese). 



> I basically just wrote this for funsies so if it doesn't make any sense oh well

"Where do you think they'll send us for the next caper? Belize? France?"

Black Sheep leaned against the rooftop wall, taking in the sight. The bright lights made the city glow under the cover of darkness. Unlike most days when Black Sheep was allowed to leave the island, there was no mission to carry out. The paintings Countess Cleo had wanted were already handed off to the next operative and on its way directly back to VILE island.

"Maybe they'll send us to Sydney. Though I’m not looking forward to seeing the Sydney Opera House again," replied Crackle. Or Gray, as Black Sheep was used to calling him.

"Yeah," Black Sheep mumbled, crossing her arms, "Maybe."

When Black Sheep was finally accepted as a VILE operative, she expected to have more freedom than she had had during her childhood. She wanted to finally get the chance to mark the map back in her room with all the places she had gone to. The only issue was that she was  _ too  _ good at her job. On the rare occasion she wasn't off stealing artifacts or taking paintings from museums, Black Sheep was expected to stay on the island with the rest of her family.

And well, she was getting sick of it. 

"We still have time before we're supposed to go back," Gray pointed out. "And there are a lot of places we could go right now. We could get you caught up in some films. I know that the theater ‘round the corner is playing-"

"Shh!"

Black Sheep put up her index finger, peering over the roof's edge. She thought she had spotted a familiar yellow scarf on one of the passersby. After a quick scan, she faced Gray in apology. "I'm sorry. I just thought I saw..." Black Sheep trailed off and looked out at the street again. It was indeed, the woman herself. VILE's bookkeeper walked into one of the tall neighborhood buildings before coming out with a new coat in hand.

"Is that the bookkeeper person?" Gray asked, peering over the rooftop ledge. Black Sheep nodded.

Cookie Booker served as VILE's accountant for as long as Black Sheep could remember and was often the target of some of her most elaborate pranks, mainly due to the fact that she only showed up once a year. Despite knowing  _ of  _ each other for years, Black Sheep didn't know what to think of her. After graduation, she had decided to stop her yearly tradition of showering Cookie Booker with water balloons to prove the faculty of her maturity. Even after years, Cookie Booker had still kept a disgruntled tone with her, treating Black Sheep like a child.

All it did at the moment, however, was to spark curiosity into finding out more about her. If the building Booker walked out of was truly her home, then Black Sheep just  _ had  _ to see what was inside. 

What could she say? Curiosity killed the cat. Or in this case, the black sheep.

It was that kind of behavior that made the faculty limit Black Sheep’s freedom. They trusted her in the sense they knew she could get the job done, no questions asked. Yet, it was as if they granted her  _ too  _ much freedom, she would do something crazy enough to get them all in trouble.

It wasn’t like there was anything for them to do anyway. After successful capers, VILE didn’t care much about what their agents did unless it was stupid enough to get them caught and arrested. Would breaking into one of Cookie Booker’s homes fit under that category?  _ Technically _ . But Black Sheep and Gray were too good to get caught. They were a good team, always protecting each other’s backs. It explained why VILE paired them up together more often than not.

And even if they did get caught, it wasn’t as if Booker was going to call the cops on them. Not if she still wanted to keep her fat paycheck, and her memories.

* * *

Convincing Gray to break into Cookie Booker’s home was easier than expected. Whether it was because of his desire to follow Black Sheep or because his thieving instincts trumped reasoning, she didn't know. However, having Gray along always made breaking into places  _ much  _ easier. His crackle rod was especially useful when having to fry electronic door locks into malfunction.

“So… what exactly  _ are  _ we looking for?”

“I don’t know,” Black Sheep shrugged. “Something of value that indisputably belongs to Miss Booker, I guess.”

Gray placed down a vase he was holding and turned to Black Sheep with a questioning glance. “Isn’t this a bit risky? Without an actual objective, we risk being caught.”

“Ugh, not you too,” Black Sheep raised her hands exasperatedly. “You sound like faculty.”

“Why? What have they said to you?”

Black Sheep sat down on the nearest sofa with her arms crossed. She blew her bangs away from her forehead before rambling. “They need to understand that I am  _ not  _ that reckless little girl they keep thinking I am. I know that them letting me graduate despite Shadowsan failing me shows that they know my value. But… after a lifetime of craving to get out of the island, it sucks that it is not living up to what I expected- ” 

Black Sheep cut herself off. As frustrated as she was, she couldn’t forget about VILE protocol, which mandated that it was prohibited to talk to other operatives about their lives before joining VILE.  _ Especially  _ her.

“We’ve known each other for quite some time,” Gray ventured. “I’ve told you my past, even though I wasn’t supposed to. Why haven’t you told me yours? Don’t you trust me?”

Black Sheep jumped to her feet. “Of course I do! How could you ever doubt that?”

“I respect your decision for privacy, Black Sheep. But the least you could do is explain  _ why  _ you continue to prove yourself to the faculty. They already made an exception by allowing you to graduate.  _ Why  _ do they have such an interest in you?” 

It hurt to keep Gray in the dark after years of friendship. Maybe it  _ was  _ time to tell him the truth. Although, it was probably best if it wasn’t explained in the middle of Cookie Booker’s living room. “I promise that, in due time, I’ll tell you everything. You’re right, we should go. This mission was a flop anyways” 

Black Sheep stopped in her tracks. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something red glimmering from the hat and coat rack near the front door. Other than some rather expensive decorations, it was clear that most of Booker’s paychecks went to supplying her closet with a variety of colorful clothing. “I’ve seen her wear this before,” Black Sheep realized as she took the hat off the rack and stared inside of it. Golden letters stood out from the black label,  _ Carmen Brand Outwear  _ . 

_ Carmen  _ … 

“You know,” Black Sheep turned to face Gray’s direction, “if my code name wasn’t Black Sheep, I think I would have liked to be called Carmen.” 

“Carmen?” Gray questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, Carmen.” Black Sheep peered inside the hat one more time. “Carmen Sandiego.”

“Sandiego, huh,” Gray repeated. “Sounds exotic.”

“Why, thank  _ you _ ,” Black Sheep fluttered her eyes and laughed. It wasn’t such a terrible name, if only a bit old-fashioned. Besides, it was a somewhat common name in South America. In a way, the name honored her Argentinian roots, and Black Sheep was proud of that. “It was only a thought.”

Before Gray could respond, the front door was slammed open. Realizing that they were not yet seen, Black Sheep and Gray ran to open the nearest window. Thanks to Shadowsan’s stealth training, they were able to both escape and run off without being spotted by Booker. Deciding to not take any chances, the pair ran into the nearest alleyway to climb all the way up to the nearest rooftop, away from prying eyes. 

Heaving, Gray and Black Sheep collapsed on the rough roof floor. Even after all the intense training that was thrown at them by VILE, climbing buildings still required a lot of energy, especially when doing it that quickly. If only they had some sort of grappling hook to help. Well, that was something that they would be able to ask Dr. Bellum for once they got back. 

* * *

“So,” Gray began, taking a sip of his drink, “What’s the new plan?”

Black Sheep gently blew into her warm cup. It was surprisingly easy to find coffee in Italy on such a cold night. “Crackle and Black Sheep will go back to the island to report on their latest caper.”

Gray nodded, glancing at Black Sheep. “And then what?”

Being part of VILE meant forgetting your old life and starting a new one. It was a rule that backgrounds were meant to remain secret, to forget whoever that person was. But Gray was her best friend. He had taken the risk to tell her about his past life, which wasn’t much but more than she had ever told him about herself. There was so much  _ she  _ didn’t even know--who her parents were, how she ended up abandoned on the side of a road in Argentina... 

Over the years, her friendship with Gray had strengthened. He cared about her, and she knew that he would follow her wherever she went. Besides, if she couldn’t trust Gray then she couldn’t trust anyone else. 

She smiled at him. “And then we’re going to South America. There’s something I need to tell you.”

**Author's Note:**

> So here’s the sitch. VILE doesn’t want to give Carmen too much freedom because they still think she’s super reckless and quick-tempered. Even though she has “proved herself” to them, they lowkey fear she’ll do something that would ruin their plans of having her be this super thief. Again, this is not a life Carmen has chosen, but the only one she knows. 
> 
> Carmen just wants to travel and see what the world can offer (obviously stealing a few things here and there). She’s not prohibited from traveling or anything, but since the faculty are basically her family, she feels obligated to get back to the island as soon as she can. Plus, she always has missions assigned, meaning that there isn’t much free time to travel to specific places she wants to go to. At this point she still goes as Black Sheep because she still works for VILE and, for the most part, supports their values.


End file.
